NIH History

Dentistry Research During the Depression Lays Foundation for NIH's NIDCR

Francis Arnold and Philip Jay

“And he said, ‘I can assure you that if you go through and become a good dentist, people will travel all over the world to find you. Chemists travel all over the world to find a job.”

That was the advice for Dr. Francis Arnold, who did become a dentist and helped establish the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, from his mentor, Dr. Thomas Hill, Professor of Clinical Oral Pathology and Therapeutics at Western Reserve University. The excerpt, and those that follow, come from Dr. Arnold's 1964 NIH oral history series. During the interviews, he discusses how his experiments and interests led him to become one of the four Public Health Service scientists who pioneered the study of fluorides and their effect on teeth.

Tough Decisions in Biomedical Research: Focusing Limited Resources

"The point is this. When we go before the appropriations committees of Congress, we must describe achievements of the previous year. ... But there were many problems, many demands from 1975 to 1985, and the NIAID was stretched very, very thin. ... Too many scientists thought infections were no longer important and that view was translated into a decision in NIAID's budget."

– Excerpt from a 1988 NIH Oral History discussion with Dr. Richard Krause, former NIAID Director, on why getting funding for infectious disease research in the 1970-80s was difficult.

Richard Krause

The Great Willy Burgdorfer, 1925–2014

When we think of research that makes a difference, we often picture individuals whose particular discoveries marked watershed moments in scientific history. One such person who made a substantial impact on biomedical science and human health was biologist Wilhelm “Willy” Burgdorfer, Ph.D., who passed away on November 17, 2014, after 89 years of life.

Dr. Burgdorfer

NIH Researchers Recall the Early Years of AIDS

In June 1981, the NIH Clinical Center saw its first patient with AIDS. The story of how AIDS went from an unknown disease to one with a treatment is one of our most visited web sites, In Their Own Words.

In their own words

Where To Look When That Perfectly Good Decades-Old Instrument Needs Repairing

How does the Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum preserve and interpret the history of NIH? Through our collections! For example, our manual and trade catalog collections are two of the best collections on 20th-21st century medical research instruments in any museum or library in the world.

Weston manual

Art of the Science

Medical illustrator Howard Bartner, now retired from NIH, melded art and biology to create works that informed researchers with meticulous attention to detail.

Howard Bartner

Hello, You've Reached the NIH

These switchboard operators in Building 3 handled the phone calls coming into NIH, connecting incoming callers at a time when each office or laboratory had few phones.

NIH telephone switchboard operators

Breaking the Chains Forged in Life

In Charles Dickens’ 1843 classic, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by four ghosts who help him to see the error of his ways and embrace a life of service. Scrooge is then able to correct the actions that could have led to his demise. Researchers studying epigenetics take on a similar task.

Marley's Ghost

Back to the Future of Brain Research

“Here is an image that is historical because it represents the era (1980s and 1990s) when drug receptors were first being localized in the brain," writes Miles Herkenham, Ph.D.

Herkenham Cannabinoid receptor hippocampus